The Choir He Wanted, The LIfe He Had

Tuesday, April 3, 1937

As I was walking down the hall, on my way back to lunch from the toilet, I heard muffled music coming from behind a closed door. I looked through the small window on the door and saw Ralph sitting on a chair in a small room, playing on a trumpet. He tried to play a note, and at first, it sounded strong, but then it faded as his body shook. He laid the instrument on his legs and put his head in his hands, shaking harder.

I tried the doorknob and found that it was not locked. I quietly opened the door and was glad when he didn't look up at me. It was easier to hear his crying from inside the room, and I stood in silence for a moment, watching him. When I finally knocked on the door Ralph jumped, just barely catching the trumpet before it could fall on the floor. When he saw me he yelled,

"Go away!"

I slowly shook my head.

"I hate you!" Ralph yelled. "You ruined my life!"

Even if I could respond I wouldn't have. I slowly walked toward him and stopped in front of the stand in front of him.

"Please go away," he said. I didn't move. When I didn't say anything, he said,

"Why aren't you talking to me?"

I looked him in the eye and mouthed, 'I can't.'

"What do you mean you can't?" Ralph asked. He still sounded mad at me, so his question sounded more accusing than curious.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to understand if I mouthed the answer, I mimed it. I made a motion with my hands as if I were breaking something in half, then pointing to my throat. Ralph looked slightly confused as he asked,

"You broke your voice?"

I nodded slowly, then made a motion as if I was writing on something. Ralph reached into his school bag and pulled out a notebook and a pencil.

I wrote down I guess I deserved it and showed it to him, shrugging.

"I'll say," he remarked. "You have no idea what you've done."

What happened? I wrote. When he didn't respond, I tapped on the words with the pencil's eraser.

"My mum said if I got in another fight...she'd write a letter to Dad...and tell him not to come home for the concert..." There was a long pause, then Ralph's voice shook as he finished with, "And I did."

I frantically wrote She can't do that! and showed it to him.

"She can and she did," he replied, his eyes filling with tears.

I'm so sorry, I wrote. When I showed him he scoffed.

"Sure you are," he said.

I didn't know that was going to happen, I wrote.

"Then what can you do about it?" Ralph asked. I thought for a minute, then I wrote,

I'm going to admit that I lied. That should get you out of most of the trouble you're in.

"Now?" Ralph asked. As an answer I walked around the stand, grabbed his arm, and pulled him out of the chair.

"Wait," he said as he stood up, "I have to get my stuff first."

He quickly gathered his things together, not bothering to pack the trumpet and music before following me out of the room.

It was a short walk to the headmaster's office, and on the way there I prepared my silent speech. I had to convince him that Ralph was not the one to blame for what happened, that he should be let off with a warning. I also had to convince his mother of the same thing, but I would save that for another time.

When we arrived at the headmaster's office, I knocked on the door and waited for a response. After a few minutes, the door opened, and the headmaster's expression turned to shock when he saw us.

"Mr. Merridew, Mr. Murphy," he said. "What are you two doing here? Is something wrong?"

I pushed past him into the room, still dragging Ralph along. I then let go of Ralph's arm and began writing furiously on the notebook he had given me earlier. I wrote down everything, confessing to the lies. I wrote that I was terribly sorry and that I deserved to be punished, not Ralph. Tears filled my eyes as I finished the note off by saying that I understood if he wanted to take away my prefect position, something I had just gotten not long before. When I was done writing, I handed the note to the headmaster and waited with my head down as he read it. After several minutes I heard him sigh. He said my name and I looked up at him.

"I appreciate your honesty," he said. "It's very generous of you to want to get Mr. Murphy out of trouble, but the rules are the rules, and you both still broke them. Mr. Murphy will still be in a lot of trouble for this, whether or not he started it."

I held out my hand and the headmaster gave the notebook back to me. I wrote, At least tell his mother that he didn't start it, and handed it back.

"Alright," he said after reading it. "I can do that."

I smiled a bit and looked over at Ralph, who was also smiling. Later that month, his father did, in fact, go to his concert. I was there, and smiled as I watched Ralph's reaction. Even though I knew deep down that Ralph's mother wouldn't do what she had threatened to do in any situation, I still felt good knowing that I at least made him feel better.

We didn't talk much after that, not even when he was forced to come to my house after school, but I'll never forget that concert, how he had hugged me and thanked me as if we were best friends. Both of us knew we'd never be as good of friends as we were when we were little, but that night still made me feel good.

I know now I should have gotten to know Ralph more while I had the chance.

It would have helped a lot. 

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I've read so many fanfictions where Ralph is like the captain of a sports team, but in all my stories he plays an instrument because I like the thought of Ralph playing an instrument.